Friday, 7 October 2011

California's Pacific Coast Highway - the foggy version

I apologise for my apathy in not posting anything for the last two or three weeks but quite frankly I had better and much more enjoyable things to do! I've been back at work for the last few days which I'll admit has been very difficult to adjust to after such a wonderful trip, but anyway, let me go back to just after my last post...

So one thing I was really looking forward to was the trip south along the PCH from Carmel to Cambria - I know the drive but have only done it going north in the past and was told it's better to do it the other way simply because you're on the right hand side of the road and therefore nearer the ocean. What that person didn't tell me is that it meant the whole drive involved a rather intense feeling of vertigo throughout the drive and unfortunately not made any better by the thick fog we experienced. At least I knew what views we were missing but it was a real shame as this was going to be one of the highlights of the road trip. The picture above is what the place looked like last time...

...and this is how it looked on this trip (it's essentially the same spot and same view). Well, you know, it didn't matter, I had wonderful company which was the most important part of the journey and it's still a special drive, even if the conditions were distinctly British. At least it wasn't freezing cold and drizzling - that would have really reminded me of my home country!

Still, the coast looked interesting as long as we were down on the lower sections of the highway, out of the fog and the regime of vertigo (I never used to suffer from a fear of heights until a few years ago. Odd, isn't it?).

I would have tried to sit on this chair or whatever it is but it was far too close to the edge of the cliff so just used it to lean against (on the side away from the cliff edge) to take the photo above this (feel free to call me a wuss if you really must!).

The fog finally gave way to sunny skies when we were close to the small town of Cambria but the views aren't so spectacular here, so it was a quick trip down to the state beach in San Simeon to take in a little sun and watch the surf before checking in at our next hotel - and wasn't that the most wonderful place!